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Programs for School Children

The SkyWindWorld kite making curriculum has made the concepts of basic science, engineering and math come to life for thousands of K-12 students. Minds easily open to scientific possibilities as artistic creations take flight!

Many of the kite makers who participate in SkyWindWorld exhibits also serve as instructors for our educational programs. These highly skilled and talented professionals bring “Kites in the Classroom” to students at public and private schools and participate in numerous community workshops and children's museum programs.

Failure-proof kite patterns help to ensure that every student’s experience is successful. Kite kits for any age group and any class size are available through SkyWindWorld—ranging from easy-to-fly kites for beginners to complex cellular kites for advanced students. Contact SkyWindWorld for pricing. Volume discounts are available.

Conover Eddy: a fringed diamond shape with single-point brindle that can be flown in train

Star and Star Trains

Aussie Fighter: flies effortlessly when flown with a long tail

Cellular Kites: complicated, but worth the effort for more advanced kite-builders/kite-flyers

*These kites can be customized with artwork or logos for an additional charge and an appropriate lead time

Teacher Education – Classroom Workshops

Our teacher education programs compress complex aspects of kite-building and kite-flying into a simple, straight forward curriculum that educators can easily transport back to their classrooms. Using the American Kiteflier Association's “Kites in the Classroom” program, SkyWindWorld offers a complete kite curriculum tailored for grade school, middle school or high school levels.

Kites make a terrific vehicle for learning about a variety of subjects — from creative use of color and graphics, mathematics and trigonometry, earth science, physics and industrial science, history, craft-making, reading, music and more. Curriculum can be broadened with the inclusion of aircraft, aeronautics, feathered flight and space exploration.

SkyWindWorld’s educator seminars are available throughout the year and offer content that begins with basic kite safety, styles, parts, materials, history and principles of flight. Educators make a variety of kites during the seminar and have the choice of buying pre-made kite kits of varying degrees of difficulty or receiving detailed plans that show how to make numerous kites from scratch. The plans and techniques that are offered help educators to assure every that every child they teach will have a successful, positive kite making experience.

These programs are facilitated by Drake Smith — an internationally known kitemaker/engineer from Washington DC who applies his knowledge of physics to create complex, award winning multi-cellular kites and Terry Zee Lee — who for the last decade has transformed kites into public art exhibits and magical learning experiences in classrooms and community workshops.